9. Texas in the Latter Nineteenth Century: Part B (1877-1900)

Selected Texas History Primary Source Documents

Suggestion: One might also find it useful to consult the list of documents and collections of documents at List 2 , "Texas in the Nineteenth Century: General."

Telegrams relating to a racial disturbance at Sandy Point, Brazoria County, July-August, 1877. Six telegrams to or from Governor Richard B. Hubbard. [For all documents, follow the links found at the site of the first telegram.] Link to documents

J. H. T. King. Report on an incident involving the suffering of a detachment of U.S. cavalry troops stationed at Fort Concho. [No date for the report, but it deals with the period late July-early August, 1877.] The author, post surgeon at the fort, tells of the troops becoming lost somewhere on the Staked Plains in northwestern Texas while chasing unsuccessfully a band of Comanches and their subsequent physical suffering. King was a member of the rescue party. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document

Nicholas Nolan to the Assistant Adjutant General, Department of Texas, U.S. Army, August 20, 1877. This is another report of the expedition described in the reports of J. H. T. King and Charles L. Cooper about an unsuccessful expedition to find a Comanche band on the Staked Plains of northwestern Texas. Nolan commanded about 60 African-American troops. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document

Charles L. Cooper to "Dear Father," August 30, 1877. A report on the suffering of U.S. cavalry detachment described in J. H. T. King's report above. Author was one of the commanders of the troops. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document

T. C. Bass to R. B. Hubbard, October 9, 1877. Sherman attorney writes to the Texas governor, predicting another war with Mexico over border troubles and volunteering to raise a regiment to be subject to the governor's orders. Link to document

Farmers' State Alliance of Texas. Constitution and By-Laws, undated. [This material is here printed in the minutes of a meeting of the Travis County chapter, held October 11, 1889, but it could have been written and adopted as early as the organization's founding in 1877.] Link to document

Thomas Hughes. G. T. T. Gone to Texas: Letters from Our Boys (1884). Consists of letters written home between 1878 and 1883 by the author's sons and other family members. They describe the writers' activities in the cattle and sheep raising business near and to the northwest of San Antonio. Link to document

William C. Walsh. Memoirs, 1878-1887. [Written in 1923.] Walsh was commissioner of the Texas General Land Office during those years. The document explains how he dealt with fraud, forgeries, theft, etc., having to do with the public lands and includes his role in the setting aside of the University Lands and in the construction of the Texas capitol. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document

George Noble to Richard B. Hubbard, April 5?, 1878. Official of the Texas & Pacific Railroad reports to the governor the robbery of one of its trains at Eagle Ford, west of Dallas. [According to the Texas State Library, this robbery "almost certainly" was perpetrated by Sam Bass and his gang on April 4.] Link to document

Texas. Adjutant General's Office. Pay voucher to Junius Peak for service as a Texas Ranger, June 1, 1878. [Governor Richard Coke had commissioned Peak to recruit and command a special Texas Ranger company to pursue Sam Bass. Just after the pay period covered by the voucher he participated in the killing of Sam Bass.] Link to document

Edward O. C. Ord to the adjutant general of the Division of the Missouri, U.S. Army, October 2, 1878. In this annual report, the commander of the Department of Texas states that problems with Lipan Apaches continue along the Mexican border. Link to document

Texas. Adjutant General's Office. Pay voucher to John Barclay Armstrong for service as a Texas Ranger, December 1, 1878. Armstrong was a famous Texas Ranger. Just prior to the pay period covered by the voucher he had participated in the killing of Sam Bass. Earlier in the decade, he had helped arrest John Wesley Hardin in Florida. Link to document

Galveston, Houston, and Henderson Railroad. Annual Report for Year Ending September 30, 1880, [filed October 30, 1880]. This report, required by Texas law of all railroad companies, gives an accounting of the road's operations, equipment, and safety record for the year. Link to document

Reginald Aldridge. Ranch Notes in Kansas, Colorado, the Indian Territory, and Northern Texas. (1884) The author was an Englishman who, finding himself unemployed in 1877, came to the American West to take up ranching. [The Texas material, which begins with Chapter IX and continues (With some interruptions) to the end of the book, deals with events of 1881 (and perhaps beyond).] Link to document

Oran M. Roberts. Message of Gov. O. M. Roberts on Appropriations and Expenditures under the Control of the Governor, to the Seventeenth Legislature of the State of Texas, Convened at the City of Austin, in Regular Session, January 11, 1881.Link to document

Oran M. Roberts. Proclamation convening the first meeting of the University of Texas Board of Regents, October 19, 1881. [Roberts was governor of Texas at the time.] Link to document

Toney Heis to Oran M. Roberts, November 23, 1881. The writer, chief deputy U.S. marshal for New Mexico, writes Governor Roberts, inquiring if there is a reward for the capture of members of the Sam Bass gang who had threatened a newspaper editor in Denton. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document

John C. Neraz, Bishop of San Antonio, to F. W. Johnson, President, Texas Veterans Association, June 8, 1882. States offer of the Catholic Church to sell the Alamo church to the State of Texas. Link to document

Deed of sale of the Alamo church by the Catholic Church to the State of Texas, October 18, 1883. Link to document

N. R. Stegall to John Ireland, March 31, 1884. Texas adjutant general writes to Governor Ireland about bringing fence cutters in Burnet County to justice. Explains why he has accepted funds from private persons to accomplish this. Link to document

J. H. Parr to The American Missionary. [Written probably sometime in 1884.] Austin Congregational minister writes of revivals in "all the colored churches of the city" and of a recent meeting he attended in Cleburne at which white and black Christians enjoyed "harmony and good fellowship" together. Link to document

J. H. Parr to The American Missionary. [Written probably sometime in 1884.] In a piece titled, "Progress at Austin, Texas," a Congregational minister writes of the establishment of a church of that denomination, seemingly in connection with Tillotson Institute. States that African Americans are attracted to the church. Brief explanation. Also comments about religion in Austin with respect to both blacks and whites. [Scroll down to the document, which continues to the third page.] Link to document

Lucy Stone to Mariana Folsom, January 22, 1885. Author, a leader in the national woman's suffrage movement, writes a Texas leader in response to a request for assistance in establishing a state suffrage association. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document

John Ireland to the Texas Legislature, January 11, 1887. Draft. Texas governor details his role in selecting Texas granite for the exterior of the capitol building, etc. [May be necessary to scroll down to the document.] Link to document

Eleanor [last name not provided]. Letter to Natchitoches, to the Sunny South [Natchitoches, Louisiana newspaper], October 1887. First person account of a recent trip to Denton, Texas. Gives many details about Denton and some about Dallas. Link to document

Temple Houston. Address at the dedication of the new Texas State Capitol Building, May 16, 1888. [Excerpts.] Temple Houston was Sam Houston's youngest son. Link to document

Lawrence Sullivan Ross. Signed oath of office as governor, January 15, 1889. Link to document

Charles S. Morse, comp. Rules for the Courts of Texas, Adopted by Order of the Supreme Court at Tyler on the First Day of December, A.D. 1877, Together with Amendments Thereto at Various Times Up to the Close of the Austin Term, A.D. 1890. 1890. Link to document

Martha J. Adams, "Ten Years in Texas," [1890]. Author arrived in Austin, October 1, 1880, apparently to become a teacher in the soon-to-be-opened Tillotson Institute, a school for young African-American students. Is very complimentary of Texas and Texans and of the achievements of the school in the ten years since its founding. Link to document

Railroad company tariffs in Texas in the 1890s. [Four examples from three companies. Tariffs, in this context, are publications of rates, rules, and regulations having to do with common carriers like railroads.] Link to documents

James Stephen Hogg. Campaign speech, Rusk, Texas, April 19, 1890. [Excerpt.] With this address, Hogg launched his campaign for governor. The material reproduced here deals with railroads and the potential benefits of a railroad commissioner. Link to document

Martin McNulty Crane. Recollections of the establishment of the Texas Railroad Commission in 1891. [Written not long before the author's death in 1943.] Crane, a state senator in 1891, was a leading advocate of the establishment of the commission. Link to document

Texas Legislature. Act to Establish a Railroad Commission for the State of Texas, April 56, 1891. [The text of the law begins on "page" 2.] Link to document

James Stephen Hogg to John H. Reagan, April 21, 1891. The Texas governor offers his position on the Texas Railroad Commission to U.S. Senator Reagan. Link to document

John H. Reagan to James Stephen Hogg, April 23, 1891. U.S. Senator Reagan writes to the Texas governor, accepting appointment to the Texas Railroad Commission. Link to document

Texas Railroad Commission. Examples of correspondence, August-October 1891. The four letters (two incoming, two outgoing) are illustrative of the work of the commission during the opening months of its work. Link to documents. Link to an additional document of the same nature.

James Stephen Hogg to John Dix, August 27, 1891. The Texas governor writes to a politician friend, expresses interest in rainmaking experiments in Midland County. Hogg thinks such should be given a thorough test and "all the encouragement possible." Link to document.

James Stephen Hogg to J. C. Howard, September 10, 1891. Governor Hogg writes to the sheriff of Gregg County of his concern about possible mob violence against prisoners in the county jail at Longview. Offers assistance. Link to document

James Stephen Hogg. Campaign speech, Dallas, Texas, October 1, 1892. [Excerpt] Governor Hogg, running for reelection, defends his record in office. The material reproduced here deals with the Railroad Commission. Link to document

Office of the Governor of Texas. Pardon and restoration of citizenship for John Wesley Hardin, February 14, 1894. Signed by Governor James Stephen Hogg's private secretary (name indecipherable) in the governor's behalf. Link to document

James S. Hogg, Message of Governor James S. Hogg to the Twenty-Fourth Legislature of Texas, January 8, 1895. Link to document

A. C. Thompkins. Resolution to amend the state constitution to allow women to vote, March 20, 1895. Author was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from Hemptead (Waller County). (Note: The resolution was referred to a committee, where it died without further action.) Link to document

U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. v. Texas, 162 U.S. 1 (1896). The case was decided March 16, 1896. The issue had to do with Greer County, an area between the north and south forks of the Red River near the southeastern beginning of the Texas Panhandle. It had long been in contention between Texas and the United States. The decision went against Texas. The court assigned the county to the Territory of Oklahoma. The document is the written opinion of the court, composed by Associate Justice John Marshall Harlan. It provides a detailed background of the issue and the reasons for the decision. Link to document

L. J. Storey to R. H. Cousins, February 2, 1897. Author, a member of the Texas Railroad Commission, responding to a letter from a resident of Austin, discusses the process and political criteria the commission used in the hiring of employees. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document

H. F. O'Bevine to C. A. Culberson, May 26, 1898. A Dallas resident writes to the Texas governor, offering to raise a regiment of mounted riflemen volunteers from western Texas and the Indian Territory to fight in the Spanish-American War. Link to document

John Phillips to J. D. Sayers, July 6, 1899. The mayor of San Felipe reports to Governor Sayers on the Brazos River flooding of his town. Asks for state help. Link to document

John D. Blogden to family, September 10, 1900. Author was on temporary duty with the Galveston Weather Bureau at the time of the destructive hurricane that struck Galveston Island on September 8. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document

J. H. W. Stele, H. S. Murray, and Rabbi Henry Cohen to J. D. Sayers, September 11-12, 1900. Telegram. The writers, residents of Galveston, write to the Texas governor, begging for state help in the wake of the Galveston hurricane. [Scroll down to the document.] Link to document

Ida Smith Austin. Account of Galveston hurricane, November 6, 1900. Eyewitness account. [Scroll down past the John D. Blagden letter to this document.] Link to document

WPA life histories from Texas. These documents, made available by the Library of Congress, are mostly first-person accounts of life in Texas collected during the Great Depression. Subjects include pioneer reminiscences, including those of immigrants from Europe; cowboy and ranching reminiscences and lore, including African-Americans and Hispanics. There is some discussion of Indians and more. There are 445 titles. [Click on this link, which identifies the name of the entire project, then click on "Select a state." Follow directions until you reach "List All Texas Titles." Click on that link.] Link to the project page.